Meaning Of John Prine Song Lake Marie
The song was lake marie by john prine.
Meaning of john prine song lake marie. Prine s first experience with the song came while talking to a crew member in wisconsin after a show. No song in the history of music better illustrates this phenomenon than john prine s lake marie. Lake marie is arguably the album s most popular track.
It s an actual place. There are in fact two lakes like in the song lake marie and lake elizabeth. A john prine fansite the john prine shrine explains how prine came to write the song while prine was in wisconsin for a show a crew member told prine a tale about the local lake marie actually it is lake mary.
On the way home from the show my wife was asking just what exactly is the song lake marie about. The song he ended his show with was lake marie which can be found on his last collection of all original songs lost dogs and mixed blessings oh boy from 1995. The john prine shrine website quotes the singer discussing his inspiration for the song.
What inspired john prine to write lake marie. But the last verse of the song paints a pretty graphic picture of a gruesome murder scene involving i assume the ex wife. The song was inspired in part by prine s crumbling marriage and a series of grisly murders the singer remembered the chicago news media having a field day with when he was a kid.
At the end of it the radio dj mentioned this was bob dylan s favorite john prine song. Prine walks us through the disparate inspirations for 1995 s lake marie from an expedition to a twin lakes wisconsin library and a dive into local history to the artistic confluence of van. General commentjust found this on a website.
He told prine of lake marie which was an interesting tale. There s an odd sort of power in that song mainly because he combines several disjointed images a grisly murder a failing marriage native american lore grilling italian. My impression is that prine is telling a story about how he met a former wife.